종전 후 외세의 개입에 따른 영향과 갈등- 사회경제적 요인으로 살펴본 제주4･3과 대만2･28의 遠因 -

Abstract

This study focused on the Jeju April 3 Incident and the Taiwan February 28 Incident as the result of the intervention of foreign powers and all the conflicts that occurred in the process of handling postwar issues in Taiwan and Joseon that were Japanese colonies. Both the two incidents were the white terrors committed by the governments and innocent people were massacred. At the Cairo Conference, it was agreed to establish a trusteeship in Joseon and to return Taiwan to the Republic of China. Under the trusteeship, the United States utilized the system of the Japanese Empire, and made people’s life even harder. In South Korea under the U.S. military rule, many activities of the People’s Committee were observed. In particular, the People’s Committee was in charge of public security in each region, and Jeju was no exception. The committee had a broad base of support from the general public including farmers, workers and women, but it must have been an eyesore to the U.S. military. In the meantime, a street demonstration was staged in Jeju to celebrate the March 1st Movement, and the U.S. military rule took this opportunity and decided to eradicate leftists, recognizing Jeju as the ‘Red Island.’ The South Korean Workers' Party rose up in arms against the action of the U.S. military rule on April 3, 1948, and innocent people were indiscriminately killed in the course of suppression. As Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China, the Kuomintang of China came to power. Chen Yi (陳儀), appointed as the Minister of Administration, wielded absolute power and started to rule Taiwan in earnest. The Kuomintang’s rule over Taiwan, led by Chen Yi, moved in a wrong direction without understanding the circumstances of Taiwan. Taiwan experienced serious inflation due to the introduction of the monopoly system by the Kuomintang government and the disposal of goods to Mainland China. Back then, Taiwanese people experienced modern education and medical systems in the era of Japanese Colonialism. In particular, the Japanization policy of the Japanese colonial rule made Taiwanese people familiar to Japanese culture in the process. The leadership of the Kuomintang government thought Taiwanese people were enslaved by Japan, instead of making efforts to understand and examine the situations. On the contrary, Taiwanese people started to express their dissatisfaction with the monopoly of public posts and corruption of the Kuomintang government. They gradually came to abandon their expectations for going back to their homeland, and called themselves benshengrens (本省人, meaning people of this province), keeping their distance from waishengrens (外省人, meaning people of non-Taiwan provinces). A clash that occurred against this backdrop was the February 28 Incident. In other words, foreign powers that flew into Joseon and Taiwan due to changing international situations after Japan’s defeat came into conflicts with natives, resulting in the Jeju April 3 Incident and the Taiwan February 28 Incident.